Android Phone Fans

CONTEST: Photoshop Contest for a Google Glass Invite [DAY 3]
Look away now: there’s another patent storm coming Google’s way
What’s the best Android phone to buy as of November 2013?

CONTEST: Photoshop Contest for a Google Glass Invite [DAY 3]

Posted: 02 Nov 2013 01:40 PM PDT

Our Great American Glass Contest has yielded its first winner – Lester Dedrick – who was the random winner from yesterday’s Rafflcopter Contest. Today’s contest requires a bit more creativity so it’ll last a little bit longer… but it’s going to be fun.

Day 3 Contest: Photoshop Glass on a Cartoon

Find a picture of Google Glass on Google Images
Find a picture of a celebrity, cartoon, politician, or other character
Edit the picture (“Photoshop”) so the character is wearing, interacting, or thinking about Google Glass
Add a caption, speech bubble, or thought cloud for added effect
Post your image on this thread
Unlimited entires allowed. Each image counts as a separate entry.
Your goal should be to illicit emotion from the viewer. Whether it’s “OMG” or “LOL”, we’ll pick a handful of our favorites, from which we’ll randomly select one winner.
Entries accepted until Wednesday, November 6th at 11:59PM
Winner will be announced on Thursday, November 7th at Phandroid.com

If you cannot afford $1,500 for Google Glass or are an International Participant you are still eligible. In the event you win, we'll substitute the Glass Invite with a $50 Google Play Gift Card and donate your invite to one random Android Forums member from this thread.

The Great American Glass Contest

We’re giving away 9 Glass invites in 9 days and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to score big… so check out our schedule below to see which contests are still open!

Day 1: Nexus 5 Forum Frenzy (OPEN through Nov 4th)
Day 2: Rafflecopter #1 (CLOSED)
Day 3: Photoshop contest (OPEN until Nov 6th)
Day 4: #GlassPhan contest (tba)
Day 5: Rafflecopter #2 (tba)
Day 6: Developer Appreciation Contests (tba)
Day 7: On your mark. Get set… (tba)
Day 8: Mystery Word Hunt (tba)
Day 9: AF Staff Appreciation (tba)

Hints:

Follow these Google+ accounts to get an early heads up when contest posts will soon be going live and additional hints at how to improve your chances of winning.

Contest Rules & Requirements

Must be 18+ or older
International applicants and those unwilling or unable to spend $1,500 can still enter to win, but their Glass Invite will be substituted with a $50 Google Play Store gift card and their Glass invite donated to a random established forum member from this thread.
To receive Glass invite, winners must be a US resident.
To receive Glass invite, winners must provide a US shipping address.
To receive Glass invite, winners must provide a valid E-Mail address directly associated with contest entry.
Winners will have 24 hours to respond to the winning notification e-mail. If staff have not received a response and/or proper Glass Invite submission information furnished within 24 hours, Phandroid staff may elect to disqualify this entrant and name another winner
Winners must prove that the E-Mail address provided for submission to the Glass Invite system is owned and maintained by the winner. Transfer or Sale of winning invite is not authorized and any attempt to do so will result in disqualification.

Contest Terms of Service:

Contest winners are not guaranteed Google Glass hardware, they are only guaranteed that Phandroid staff will submit the furnished E-Mail address to Google's automated invite system for current Google Glass Explorers.
By entering this contest, entrants understand agree that Phandroid is only responsible for submitting the winners e-mail address through the Google Glass Invite system and beyond this measure, no promises or guarantees can or will be made.
In the event that Google removes, changes, edits, disqualifies, limits, or in any way alters their Glass Invite process to prevent Phandroid.com from submitting invites or fulfilling invites, entrants shall hold Phandroid.com and Neverstill Media harmless
Phandroid reserves the right to disqualify entrants at sole discretion of Phandroid staff, for reasons including but not limited to: attempting to "game" the contest, spamming contest posts/threads, creating multiple accounts, demeaning or trolling competing entries, using automated systems to improve chances, etc…
By entering this promotion, participants agree, to the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, to release, discharge and hold harmless Neverstill Media, its affiliates, respective owners, and representatives from any and all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses which may arise out of participation in this promotion or out of the acceptance, use, or misuse of prizes. By participating, you agree to these Official Rules and to the decisions of the judges whose decisions shall be deemed final and binding.

Look away now: there’s another patent storm coming Google’s way

Posted: 02 Nov 2013 11:54 AM PDT

The summer of 2011 was a crazy time in the world of mobile patents. In fact, by far the craziest ever as Google Trends would tell you. It seemed like every major software company in the world had Android in their cross hair, with Apple, Microsoft and Oracle leading the charge.

There was one particular case that stands out more than the others: the Nortel patent acquisition.

The Nortel patents is what got Google to really chase patent reforms. Having had their $900 million bid selected as the “stalking-horse bid”, Kent Walker, a Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Google penned a blog reiterating the company’s stance on the need for patent reform, and why they were bidding for the patent portfolio.

Today, Nortel selected our bid as the "stalking-horse bid," which is the starting point against which others will bid prior to the auction. If successful, we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community—which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome—continue to innovate.

A little under three months later, Google surprisingly lost the auction. How did that happen? As MG Siegler put it in this column on TechCrunch, it was essentially like a scene out of the James Bond movie Casino Royale. Google was outbidding everyone, with Apple left as the only company left competing against them. When Apple saw that they were going to lose, they decided to back a consortium that had just given up: Rockstar Bidco. With Apple’s support, the consortium offered $4.5 billion.

Google, who at the last moment had been joined by Intel, weren’t ready to go over $4.4 billion. Instead they saw Apple walk away as winners. Who were the companies part of Rockstar Bidco? Microsoft (as you would expect), RIM, EMC, Ericsson and, this is the toughest to take, Sony. Not only was the average cost to each of the winners ($750 million) less than Google’s stalking-horse bid, there was an Open Handset Alliance member on the opposing side.

The loss set in motion even stronger patent-reform lobbying by Google, as well as the eventual Motorola acquisition in August of that year. For a while, it seemed like the entire fiasco had been buried. Unfortunately, this past week, Rockstar Bidco fired the first bullets in what can aptly be described as a “World War” between mobile companies: the consortium mentioned above, against the listed “infringers”: Google, Samsung, ASUStek, Pantech, HTC, LG, Huawei and ZTE.

It looks like we are going to be hearing about this for a very, very long time.

[Reuters]

What’s the best Android phone to buy as of November 2013?

Posted: 02 Nov 2013 08:18 AM PDT

Halloween has come and gone, and Google has delivered the tasty treat we’ve all been waiting for. We’re talking about the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KITKAT, of course. You can find out every single thing you need to know about those beautiful concoctions in our round-up post, where Edgar wraps up everything there is to know about the release (including some cool system apps and wallpapers that you can already download!). Now that all of that is out of the way, it’s time to run through our best Android phones list for November. Buckle up!

5 – Samsung Galaxy S4

It might be a bit alarming that the Samsung Galaxy S4 has dropped to number 5 on our list this month, but the Samsung Galaxy S4 is getting… old. Not quite old enough to knock it out of the top 5, mind you, but old. Samsung is doing some good things lately, with the company delivering timely Android OS upgrades. Some users are already getting set up with Android 4.3, which brings a Premium Suite upgrade that improves camera features and adds compatibility for the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch.

4 – HTC One

HTC One’s big brother One Max isn’t on this list, but that’s because it offers nearly nothing over the more pocketable 4.7-inch version. The HTC One is still a fine phone by this year’s standards, and like Samsung is doing with the Galaxy S4, HTC is getting serious about Android upgrades. 4.3 is rolling out to most users right now (though Verizon faithful will have to wait until the end of this month after an unfortunate delay). With HTC already promising Android 4.4 KitKat down the line, this is still one attractive pickup (and the Snapdragon 600 processor inside this thing is still strong enough to keep it ticking as smoothly as any other).

3 – Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Surprised to see the Galaxy Note 3 jump back two spots this month? This is still a fine phone, folks, but a certain other South Korean company has been coming with some major heat lately — more on that later. It was hard to put the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in the middle of the pack considering it doesn’t have “middle of the pack” specs. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel camera aren’t middle of the pack specs, but I could still do without a lot of Samsung’s TouchWiz. And 5.7 inches is just big enough to be uncomfortable (despite the phone being the same overall size as the Galaxy Note 2).

2 – LG G2

Last month, I applauded LG for a finely crafted phone, but didn’t think their software was the bee’s knees. It still isn’t the light coat of paint I’d prefer, but it has grown on me, and I find it to be more lightweight and pain-free to use than Samsung’s TouchWiz.

The G2′s Snapdragon 800 processor makes this thing ridiculously fast, and the beautiful 5.2-inch 1080p display is absolutely scrumptious. Gimmicks like the back-facing buttons and LG KnockOn don’t phase me, so they didn’t factor in here — it was pure smartphone mastery that made me award LG the number two slot.

1 – Nexus 5 by LG

I bet you saw this coming. The Nexus 5 is but a few days old, but it’s one exciting device for many different reasons. It’ll be the absolute first phone with Android 4.4 KITKAT. It’ll be the fastest Nexus smartphone ever, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 quad-core chipset and 2GB of RAM.

It’ll have the most beautiful display of any Nexus handset with a 4.95-inch 1080p HD display. And while the 8 megapixel backside-illuminated camera with Optical Image Stabilization might not be the best camera in the world, it should suffice for most modest cell-phone photographers’ needs.

Specs alone aren’t the only thing to consider, though (which is why the Note 3 isn’t number one on this list). To get all of this in a package that starts at just $350 is astounding. It makes the Nexus 5 the best value in smartphones, and considering you’ll be promised the latest Android upgrades as soon as you can get them,we’d say there’s no reason to consider anything else (unless, you know, you’re stuck with someone like Verizon).

Runner-ups

Moto X — It slipped outside the top 5 thanks to some very strong launches last month, but the Moto X is still one of the best Android phones you can get. Great battery life, Touchless Controls and Active Notifications make sure of that.
Motorola DROID Maxx — Think Moto X, except with two full days of battery life, a bigger display and sweet Kevlar back-coated goodness.
Sony Xperia Z1 — Sony’s “Ultra” variant of the Z is a bit too much for our tastes, but the Z1 is still a fine device. We wish Sony would find a way to chop that bezel down, though.
Nexus 4 by LG — Yes, it’s been handily outclassed by the Nexus 5, but the Nexus 4 will be a force for quite some time. You might have to take to eBay to get yours at this point, though, as Google has taken it off the Play Store.
Motorola DROID Mini — Let’s face it: not everyone is impressed by a bigger display. This 4.3-inch smartphone was considered “big” by 2010′s standards, but if you need a smaller-than-average smartphone you can’t get much better than this.

Phones to look forward to

These phones aren’t available yet, but we know they're on their way and we know we're anticipating them a great deal. Said to be out at some point this fall, let's take a look at two of the most exciting devices on the horizon (which isn’t saying much, but work with me here).

LG G Flex

LG’s first smartphone with a virtually unbreakable display, the curvaceous LG G Flex is like a G2… except curvy. While some might not be moved or impressed by the unique contours of this thing, it’s still going to be a powerhouse for at least a few months. We’re not sure when to expect it, nor are we exactly sure where to expect it, but it’s coming.

Samsung Galaxy Round

Samsung has a curvy smartphone of their own coming, except its curve is more… weird. The Galaxy Round features a horizontal curve, which we guess is good for those who want a phone that can hug the contours of your backside more effectively. It remains to be seen if this unorthodox form factor will make people flock, but one thing’s for sure — it has our attention.

Oppo N1

This device has a lot of firsts attached to its name. It’s one of the first phones with a rotating camera, giving you a suitable camera for both front and rear facing shots. It’ll also be the first phone that will come with the ability to flash CyanogenMod out of the box. (There will also be a special edition of the device that comes with CyanogenMod pre-installed.) Its specs will include 2GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and more. December is the last known launch window.

Sony Xperia Z1 Mini

This small handset will be taking a serious crack at the DROID Mini’s crown once it launches. The 4.3 inch 720p Xperia Z1 Mini packs a Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth 4.0, a 2,300 mAh battery and more. Sony (or Sony Ericsson) has always been known for creating great “mini” phones, and it looks like the trend won’t stop whenever this thing launches. We should be seeing it in mere weeks.

Amazon’s Best Sellers

These phones are selling like hot cakes on Amazon. Note that these aren't necessarily Amazon's true best-sellers, but best sellers out of the ones we haven't already mentioned. Take a look and see if some of these other hot phones are worth your time and money:

What say you?

And that’s a wrap! There were a lot of changes this month. You may agree with some, you may agree with all, or you may think this list is pretty much worthless. We don’t care which side of the line you stand on — we just want to hear your thoughts! Let them be heard in the comments section below. Here’s to a great forthcoming holiday season!

android

Saturday 2 November 2013